The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for exposing the skin of a patient or a healthy person to radiation. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which emit ultraviolet radiation for purely medical, purely cosmetic or cosmetic and medical purposes.
It is known to provide a skin tanning or psoriasis-treating apparatus with a set of elongated tubular lamps which are installed parallel to each other on a suitable support to emit ultraviolet radiation, primarily or exclusively in the UVA range, within an area large enough to accommodate the entire body of a male adult. The neighboring lamps are separated from each other by relatively narrow elongated gaps of uniform width to thus ensure that the skin of the user is exposed to highly uniform radiation. The emission spectrum of the lamps covers the UVA range and, if necessary, a small percentage of the UVB range but such lamps emit no radiation at all in the UVC range. Reference may be had to numerous United States and foreign patents of the applicant.
It is also known to equip such apparatus with means for intensifying, or increasing the amounts of, radiation which is to reach the skin on the head (particularly on the face) of a patient or a healthy person who desires to acquire a quick tan without risking a sunburn or other unpleasant consequences of exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The reason for the provision of radiation intensifying means is that the skin on the faces of many persons is less sensitive to radiation than the skin on the torso and on the extremities. Therefore, such persons can expose their faces to ultraviolet radiation in quantities considerably exceeding those which can safely reach the skin on other parts of the body.
It is further known to provide a selected portion of a skin tanning apparatus with a high-pressure burner which emits radiation in the UVA range at an intensity greatly exceeding that of radiation which is emitted by standard tubular lamps. The burner is installed between two groups of longer lamps and in line with a group of shorter lamps. The length of the longer lamps is 176 cm and the length of the shorter lamps is in the range of 150 cm. A drawback of such apparatus is that the intensity of radiation issuing from the shorter lamps is much less pronounced than the intensity of radiation which issues from the longer lamps. This applies even if the energy input per unit length of a longer and a shorter lamp is the same. The result is that the tanning effect of the apparatus is not uniform, i.e., the skin on the face is exposed to maximum amounts of radiation and the remaining skin is subjected to radiation of greater intensity (long lamps) as well as to radiation of lesser intensity (shorter lamps). Another drawback of the just described apparatus is that the burner requires a certain amount of time before it begins to emit radiation at a maximum rate as well as a certain amount of time prior to terminating the emission of radiation upon disconnection from the energy source. Still further, the life span of the burner is only about half the useful life of the lamps, and the burner generates substantial amounts of heat so that the apparatus must be equipped with additional heat filtering means.
As a rule, a full-sized apparatus has an effective width of 60-70 cm and employs between 10 and 12 radiation-emitting tubular lamps each having a length of 176 cm. Each lamp has a diameter of 38 mm and the width of the gaps between neighboring lamps is between 20 and 25 mm. Such apparatus cannot emit additional radiation for more intensive tanning of the skin on the face of a person.
Certain apparatus for emission of visible light employ so-called miniature lamps each of which is U-shaped, i.e., it has two parallel elongated legs and an arcuate web connecting one end of one leg with one end of the other leg. The other ends of the legs constitute or carry terminals which are insertable into suitable socket means for connection with an energy source.
The prior art which was cited in the corresponding German patent application includes German Utility Model No. 84 06 682 and published German patent applications Nos. 27 43 079 and 28 31 013. The Utility Model discloses an apparatus with a UVA high-pressure burner. The application No. 27 43 079 discloses an apparatus wherein the lamps are staggered with reference to each other. The application No. 28 31 013 discloses an apparatus wherein the reflectors have slots for the flow of hot air from the lamps to one or more fans.